Democrats release contentious autopsy of 2024 presidential campaign

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

May 21, 2026 at 10:19 a.m. EDT


The Democratic National Committee released a long-awaited autopsy of the party’s failed 2024 presidential campaign on Thursday, buckling after months of pressure from other Democrats upset with plans to keep its contents private.

The committee’s initial decision to withhold the report was driven by the desire of the committee’s chair Ken Martin, to avoid reigniting the finger-pointing that consumed the party after the 2024 loss. Democrats have been notching a string of wins at the ballot box since then.

But the failure to release the report has caused consternation within the Democratic establishment, prompting some to question Martin’s leadership.

Martin defended the decision to keep the report private last year in a statement to The Washington Post. “Here’s our North Star: does this help us win? If the answer is no, it’s a distraction from the core mission,” he said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/05/21/democratic-national-committee-releases-contentious-autopsy-2024-campaign/

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No paywall (gift)

Link to REPORT (PDF) - https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/May-20-2026.pdf

[UpInArms]

1. From the pdf

The 2008 election cycle was the high point for the modern Democratic Party. With a landslide in
the Electoral College, a 9.5 million popular vote advantage for President, and wins in the House,
Senate, and in the States, Democrats were poised and positioned to lock in those gains for a
generation.

For the first time since the 1964 election of President Johnson, Democrats gained seats in both
chambers while winning the White House. Democrats expanded their House majority to 257
seats, gaining 21 seats, and grew to 60 seats in the Senate, with wins in New Hampshire, Virginia,
North Carolina, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, and Alaska.

In the states, Democrats flipped six legislative chambers, while Republicans flipped four.
Democrats retained the governorships in New Hampshire, Delaware, West Virginia, North
Carolina, Montana, and Washington, and flipped Missouri.

These gains did not last long – as Democrats failed to capitalize on the economic disaster of the
Bush presidency by cementing a relationship with working Americans.

We failed because we did not hold anyone accountable … not one fukking banker, allowed too big to fail to be the rule, and did not hold bush/cheney to account for TWO (2) TRILLION DOLLAR WARS

[Clouds Passing]

2. Plus Garland did not hold Dump accountable for ANY of his crimes!

[UpInArms]

3. He ran out the clock

Why in the fuk do we have to have a republican in charge of the justice department?

[Fiendish Thingy]

6. The false mythology that refuses to die

Garland is not the villain of the story of Trump’s escape from Justice.

Pick your preferred AG, and the results would have been exactly the same:

No Trump trial before the election.

[PATRICK]

8. An ordinary citizen

might get the impression that all the 2008 victory was expended on a compromised health care expansion with a lot given to the financial sector that was the problem we rode in on. Then a lot of the GOP heat attempted to turn this into another Johnson Civil Rights effect where the fuming racists destroyed Dem majorities for a generation. Even that incredible propaganda succeeded partially becuase the appeal to hate is not matched by enough on our side. They dare, we increment and "reach out".
You can almost pinpoint when the blue wave rhetoric surges and the bigly donors start making worried calls and success stalls.

But separately, supposedly our intelligent legal team strong card, why is the actual election system a bleeding wound Dems can do so little about and vulnerable to any imaginable or unimaginable criminal scam the Mafia style GOP wheels out? And acquiescing to the status quo of media filters suppressed to a simple purpose- profiting the GOP? Some of these party problems go back centuries of corrupt or simple timidity in absorbing popular reform movements.

[question everything]

11. No Social Media, no podcasts, no "influencers" in 2008. At least, did not dominate discussions

[littlemissmartypants]

4. Maybe it's time to update the core mission and include...

Full disclosure of election forensics or even just a commitment to transparency with the voters.

I don't believe that a strong coalition is built on unnecessary, seemingly cowardly gatekeeping.

Seems counterproductive.

[Fil1957]

5. The release of this report now, is a stupid unforced error by DNC chairman Ken Martin. He said last year he would

release it, then delay, delay, delay. Finally he says he won't release it after all. Then the pressure builds up and he has to release it anyway.

All he had to do was release it last year when he originally said he would. If he did, the matter would have been long past and we wouldn't be talking about this now, and questioning his leadership.

What is so damn hard for some of these people to just do what they say they're going to do?

[BumRushDaShow]

10. Thanks to the 45 non-stop reign of terror

this will be forgotten like all the DOGEshit that happened last year has been forgotten, and would have zero effect on the price of groceries or gas.

[Raven123]

7. I skimmed about half of it

Honestly looks like a big cut and paste job. Lots of stuff, including some data, but nothing coherent that would be useful.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. That's probably why it wasn't released earlier

[Raven123]

15. Makes perfect sense.

The sad thing is someone paid for it.

[angryxyouth]

12. This is a must read if you want to know why Democrats lost 2024

https://open.substack.com/pub/thiswillhold/p/update-ex-cia-whistleblowerthe-nsa?r=px5lg&utm_medium=ios

[Clouds Passing]

13. Thanks for posting. A Must Read!

[reACTIONary]

14. Jeez, not this shit again! Even includes a guest appearance....

... by a UFO "expert."

All of the CT-CT is getting tiresome. Hope I don't have to JNTBSYA.

CT-CT : Conspiracy Theory Clap Trap
JNTBSYA Jeeze, not this bullshit yet again.